Veterinary session

We have studied the sensitivity and diagnostic applicability of the traditional (Rappaport-Prague) and the sensor-based (Welch Allyn- Meditron) stethoscope in 33 adult, healthy beagles involving four investigators with different experiences regarding cardiac auscultation. Our study was focusing on exploring incidentally occurring subclinical murmurs in Beagle dogs. During our research, we have compared the auscultatory results of the four examiners using the two different stethoscopes with the echocardiographic results that are diagnostically considered as gold standard. We studied the reliability of the traditional and sensor-based stethoscopes in identifying murmurs compared to the echocardiographic diagnosis in case of the four investigators. Furthermore, we investigated the differences between the two stethoscopes regarding the quality and intensity of cardiac sounds.

For statistical evaluation the Program „R” was used. 7 out of 33 dogs (21%) have shown signs of moderate mithral insufficiency or rather turbulence around the valves during echocardiography without other morphological lesions. Murmurs were audible in all of these dogs. The average age of these animals were 77±17.6 months (SE=6,7), while those with no murmurs were 51±25,6 months (SE=5,0). Regarding the recognition of murmurs the traditional stethoscope(H) had 82% and the sensor-based(E) had 75% sensitivity based on the average of the four examiners. The specificity of auscultation on average of four examiners were: H: 99% and E:100%. There was a significant difference regarding sensitivity between the two stethoscopes (H and E) in favour of E during auscultation on both sides above the chest (p <0.0001). The averages of difference in sensitivity was 0.36 on the left, and 0.59 on the right side of the chest (p=0.0340).

According to our findings, the sensor-based stethoscope had an advantage in excluding murmurs especially during auscultation above the right side of the chest compared to the traditional stethoscope.